about the whole n-word funeral thing that the NAACP had last week. but then i read in the little brother blog how phonte feels about it. i’m in agreement w/ mr. c oleman for the most part. that is, black folk will not magically be better on the whole if/ when everyone stops using this word. most importantly, it seems like treating the symptom instead of curing the disease. the subversion of language is pretty much the norm nowadays. case in point: “she’s a bitch” by missy elliott, “o.g. bitch” by esthero, “the baddest bitch” by the ever-relevant trina. . . like, what about THAT word? everyone’s all super emo after the don imus thing, as if his racism should be the sole catalyst for change around here. he blamed hip hop for the “nappy headed hoes” thing because he knew he could cop out to that. that motherfucker knows full well, just like any other thinking being, that the idea that black women are automatically whores &/ or have bad (read: nappy, kinky, etc.) hair came from white folks. some of us are reclaiming that terminology as well. so what, are we choosing which words we wanna flip for our own empowerment? has there been an international black folk conference about that?

cuz, yeah, there’s been the store called niggas& if i go to ghana some folks may mistake me for one who likes being called “bitch” or whatever,but yo . . .

burying any of these words doesn’t mean shit to me when the babies are dying the way they are. don’t blame that on the word nigga. unemployment & desperation will not magically cease when we stop calling ourselves and others niggas, bitches, hoes, or anything else.because even if i don’t use the word, i know what i mean when i say “that motherfucker ain’t shit,” because i mean to insult or harm someone with my words. that’s not contingent on the verbs, nouns, pronouns or adjectives. it’s on me & the power that the person hearing them gives the words.i don’t know . . . let’s not put a band aid on a severed limb, okay?if we don’t respect or love each other, the words don’t mean shitthe acts mean everything& who’s to say there won’t be another word to offend?

(i might come back to clean this up later)

*quick addendum: if i had written here about don imus as a cracka ass cracka, then what? ofay? honky? oyimbo? like . . . are we gonna bury those words too? cuz if we are then maybe i can clap my hands to the burial of nigga. otherwise, get out of my face w/ that bullshit & go DO something in the streets instead of being mad at what the streets are doing.

all right, white girl here :oP here’s the secret: most white folks think that black folks call each other whatever, so should it matter what somebody like Imus says? that’s why he copped to the hip-hop excuse, because it was easy. it’s a lot less work to look at a woman like karrine steffans or other video “vixens” and assume that all black women are ass-shaking and promiscuous. fair? no, not remotely. but it’s easier.

the thing people forget is that it isn’t words at all. it’s the sentiment behind them that need changing. and really, short of the hand of God coming down and fixing some things, people’s opinions aren’t going to change. white dudes are still going to want the “brown sugar” or they’ll insult it. good luck finding an in-between opinion.

the naacp can do whatever kind of dog-and-pony show it wants. it’s become as irrelevant as the UN these days, and that’s a fact.